Two Hopeless Romantics
by NerdilyNi
Summary: Two hopeless romantics meet at the pier, hoping to figure out a plan that would finally reconcile one of the greatest love stories they have ever known.


"I was absolutely certain that you wouldn't make it today."

"I've never let you down before. Why start now?"

"Things are just going to get ever so… awkward."

"Oh please. My entire life is awkward."

Two figures, a boy and a girl, met on the Hillwood pier at twilight. It was deserted, but the two really couldn't have cared less. They preferred it this way.

The boy was not in love with the girl. She was just one of his closest friends. No one else seemed to realize it, but that was okay. He didn't want to make her feel rejected at school, as most kids might do if they realized that she was friends with _him_ of all people. The boy adjusted his glasses as he looked at the girl next to him, admiring the glint of the sun on her fiery hair.

The girl simply stared out to the see as the water reflected the sun's multicolored rays. It would be getting dark soon, but she didn't really care.

"How does it feel to like someone who is just oh so in love with someone else?" she asked the boy quietly. He smirked as he turned his head to face the distant horizon.

"I actually wouldn't know."

Now it was her turn to stare at him.

"What?" he asked with a slight chuckle and a shrug, "Sure, I liked her and maybe stalked her quite a bit, but I wasn't in love with her. I was in love with her story, more specifically her love story. I could tell from the first time that she dove behind that trashcan when we were only three that she was something special. To be part of that story, to have some hand in bringing her together with the one she loves or to be standing by and watching it all unfold, how could anything be more perfect? I guess I've always been a hopeless romantic."

He blushed, and the girl beside him nodded with a smile.

"I'm certain I'm one, too," she told him, "That's why I asked her why she wanted to be Juliet just oh too badly all those years ago. I knew that he was her oh so special someone, and I always hated that he felt ever so strongly about me." She sighed. "I certainly never meant to hurt him or lead him on. When I insisted that he and I date for that oh too long week, I was trying to get him to realize that he was in love with _her_, not me." A blush crept over the sweet girl's cheeks. "I'm ever so certain that my plan backfired. It was such a shame, because I valued him as such an ever so good friend, and couldn't simply break his heart like she just oh so desperately wanted me to."

Once again, the boy laughed.

"Relax, Lila, that was seven years ago. We're all grown up now."

"And Arnold's coming back," she reminded him with a smile.

"Yeah, Arnold's coming back," he echoed, then turned to her. "How did it get so messed up?"

The girl shrugged.

"I'm oh too certain I don't know, Brainy. We should have sent him the letters she wrote."

He scoffed.

"Yeah right. She keeps them all nice and neat and organized by the freaking _date._ She'd notice if even _one_ was gone, and seeing as we're not supposed to even know about those letters, she would have gone on a rampage… You know she visited him, right?"

The redhead sighed.

"Yes. He wrote me in an ever so sweet letter. He asked me about her, and some of the questions I simply couldn't answer because it would be revealing just oh too much."

"Why do they have to make things so hard for themselves?" the boy asked her. She responded with a hollow, bitter laugh.

"I'm ever so certain I don't know." She paused for a moment before resuming in a quieter tone, "However I'm certain that the only way to save them from themselves is to do… something."

The boy rubbed the back of his neck. A lot of things had changed since Arnold left. Brainy had lost the wheeze, Gerald and Phoebe started dating, Lila's father had married, and everyone had changed physically. The one thing that remained the same was Helga's feelings for Arnold, yet that football-headed kid was still too dense to realize anything of her affections. The difference now was that Arnold _wanted_ those affections… a lot.

When Arnold had originally announced his departure, everyone was shocked by how well the youngest Pataki had taken it. They expected her to fall apart, or to get angrier than ever before; instead she supported his decision. She couldn't deprive him of the kind of parents he had always dreamed of and the kind that she herself longed for. Helga instead let him go, encouraged him even. The girl had finally realized the true meaning of love, and knew that she had to let him go if it would make him truly happy. Never once did she let him see her shed a tear.

"She's cried so much over him," the boy with the spectacles said, as if his companion was not present.

"He was ever so sure she stopped caring," the girl replied in the same manner.

"She surprised all of us..."

"It devastated him…"

"So what do you think we should do about it?" he asked, turning to her.

The fire-haired girl inhaled deeply.

"I'm ever so certain," she began after a long pause, "that it is time we let the two of them know everything about each other."

The boy smiled.

"I was hoping you'd say that. Too much has gone unsaid between them, and it's only making them miserable."

The girl nodded, a smile bestowed on her face as well.

"He always was just ever so dense."

"She was, too, in her own way." He paused for a moment, thinking. "They really stink at this whole communication thing, don't they?"

"I'm oh too certain you're right."

The two of them just sat in comfortable silence for awhile, watching the sun's rays disappear and just enjoying each other's company. After a long while, the boy inhaled deeply.

"So how do you think we should do this?" he asked his friend. She shrugged.

"You take Arnold and I'll take Helga?" she suggested.

"Perfect," the boy replied with a smile. It made sense for him to tell Arnold everything about Helga's feelings, just as it made sense for Lila to tell Helga everything about Arnold's feelings.

Lila and Brainy had actually become friends through their schemes of trying to get Arnold and Helga together. Both of them could see that the two blondes were perfect for each other and that their love story would be one of the greatest tales ever told.

Content with their plan of action, the girl stood up and nodded toward her male friend.

"Goodnight Brainy. I'm oh so certain it's been a pleasure."

"Goodnight Lila. Tomorrow a follow-up? Same time, same place?"

She smiled.

"Tomorrow."

The girl left, leaving the boy alone in his content state.

"Tomorrow, Helga," he whispered into the night sky, "You'll finally understand that he truly was meant for you."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So I've always been kind of a Lila supporter, but that's only because I think they could have done SO MUCH with her character after she found out that Helga was in love with Arnold. She always seemed a lot nicer than to just forget about it. She and Arnold in a relationship? No. Helga and Arnold all the way!  
><strong>

**Same with Brainy. Of course, he WAS supposed to do something in "The Jungle Movie," but I guess now we'll never know... :(**

**Life is so cruel.**

**Anywho, as always, let me know if you liked it, loved it, hated it, think that I should never write again, or whatever in a...**

**REVIEW! :D**

**Pretty please :)**

-NerdilyNi


End file.
